To identify viruses and compare their abundance levels in the venom glands of hymenopteran species, we conducted venom gland-specific transcriptome assemblies and analyses of 22 Aculeate bees and wasps and identified the RNA genomes of picornaviruses. Additionally, we investigated the expression patterns of viruses in the venom glands over time following capture. Honeybee-infecting viruses, including black queen cell virus (BQCV), deformed wing virus (DWV), and Israeli acute paralysis virus (IAPV), were highly expressed in the venom glands of Apis mellifera and social wasps. This finding suggests that the venoms of bees and wasps likely contain these viruses, which can be transmitted horizontally between species through their stinger usage. A. mellifera exhibited an increasing pattern of abundance levels for BQCV, DWV, IAPV, and Triatovirus, while the social wasp Vespa crabro showed increasing abundance levels of IAPV and Triatovirus over different capture periods. This suggests that the venom glands of honeybees and wasps may provide suitable conditions for active viral replication and may be an organ for virus accumulation and transmission. Some viral sequences clearly reflected the phylogeny of Aculeate species, implying host-specific virus evolution. On the other hand, other viruses exhibited unique evolutionary patterns of phylogeny, possibly caused by specific ecological interactions. Our study provides insights into the composition and evolutionary properties of viral genes in the venom glands of certain Aculeate bees and wasps, as well as the potential horizontal transmission of these viruses among bee and wasp species.

Flower chafers (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Cetoniinae) are globally distributed, comprising approximately 4,000 described species. They primarily feed on nectar and sap of deciduous trees. The larvae exhibit the unique characteristic of crawling on their backs, distinguishing them from other scarabs. Additionally, the majority of flower chafers fly with their elytra closed, unlike other scarabs that fly with fully opened wings. Šípek et al. (2016) conducted the first molecular phylogenetic study to investigate their phylogenetic relationships and characters of elytra related to the flight mode. Building upon this study, we infer the diversification times and rates of Cetoniinae and its subgroups, and reconstruct the evolutionary process of flight mode transformation. Furthermore, we discuss the current limitations and future directions of this topic.

Rotylenchus pini Mamiya, 1968 was reported from rhizospheric soils of Zoysia japonica in Korea. Females and males of the characterized population conform to the original species description from Japan and also to other subsequent species descriptions with variations in a few details in morphometrics including the existence of pharyngeal gland overlap in some specimen. Bayesian analysis of all the three DNA markers consistently grouped R. pini together with Rotylenchus species including R. zhongshanensis, a morphologically close species. Additionally, the newly obtained sequences of R. pini were found to be almost identical to the sequences assigned to Rotylenchus aff. devonensis in GenBank. These Rotylenchus aff. devonensis isolates might be representatives of R. pini populations. The current and previous phylogenetic studies supported by the recorded morphological plasticity within populations of the genus validate the proposed synonymy of Pararotylenchus with Rotylenchus.

The family Stathmopodidae, which belongs to to the superfamily Gelechioidea, has 6 genera and 18 species reported in Korea to date. This family is classified as pests, causing serious damage to grains or fruits, depending on the species. Therefore, precise control is necessary, however, there is a lack of taxonomic and ecological research. We aim to analyze the clade and speciation timing for phylogenetic analysis of Stathmopodidae using ChatGPT, a tool that has recently garnered much attention. ChatGPT, a conversational AI chatbot developed by OpenAI, is accessible to anyone and being able to improve itself through conversations with users. In this study, we utilized the lengths of the generated lineage branches and the molecular clock rate to predict when certain species of the family Stathmopodidae diverged, measured in millions of years. However, further study is required to obtain more accurate figures.

An estuary is a water ecosystem with a high abundance of the species diversity, due to a variety of complex physicochemical factors of the area where freshwater and ocean mixed. The identification of Corbicula species in the estuary environments is difficult because of various morphological characteristics. In this study, we provide taxonomic information on Corbicula species with taxonomic difficulties using morphological and genetic analysis. This study was conducted on clams from the Seomjin River-Gwangyang Bay, one of the major production area of marsh clam in Korea. As a result, we characterized Cytocrome C Oxidase subunit I (COI) sequences of the Corbicula. The 636 bp nucleotide sequences of COI have 98% homology among Corbicula species collected from 2 sites of Seomjin River-Gwangyang Bay. The phylogenetic analysis with 17 species of Corbicula indicated that most of the species collected from Seomjin River-Gwangyang Bay were brackish water clam (Corbicula japonica), and only one Asian clam (Corbicula fluminea). The evolutionary distance between C. japonica and C. fluminea was less than 0.003. Therefore, it was confirmed that C. japonica is phylogenetically closely related to C. fluminea. In 9 species of Cyrenidae, phylogenetic tree was classified into three lineages. These results will be used as an important data for an identification of clam species by providing genetic information for Corbicula species with a morphological diversity. Key words: Corbicula japonica, cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (

말쥐치는 북서태평양 해역에 분포하는 군집성 어류로 수산식품으로 이용되는 경제적 가치가 높은 어종이다. 본 연구에서는 서남해에 서식하는 국내산 말쥐치 (Thamnaconus modestus)와 기존에 보고된 유사종 (Thamnaconus septentrionalis) 과의 형태적-유전적 특징을 비교-분석하였다. 이를 위해 서남해에서 채집한 말쥐치의 외부 형태와 골격을 관찰하고, 미토콘드리아 DNA의 cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) 유전자 염기서열을 비교하여 유사종 (T. septentrionalis)과의 계통진화적 연관관계를 분석하였다. 서남해안 말쥐치의 외부 형태는 회갈색 바탕에 몸 전체에 흑갈색 무늬가 불규칙하게 산재된 패턴을 가지며 청록빛의 지느러미가 관찰되었다. 채집한 말쥐치에서 추출한 미토콘드리아DNA의 COI 유전자 분석결과 7종류의 염기서열 변이가 나타났으나 상동성이 전체적으로 98.8% 이상으로 유사 성이 높게 나타났다. 또한 형태적으로 말쥐치 유사종인 T. septentrionalis COI 염기서열 비교와 계통유전학적 분석 결과, 보고된 시퀀스 중 상동성이 99%로 유전적으로 말쥐치로 보여지는 두 종 (JN813099, MW485059)과 상동성 95%로 유사종으로 보이는 두 종 (EF607583, KP267619)이 확인되었다. 말쥐치와 유사종은 계통유전적 분석결과 말쥐치와 유사종의 차이를 확인하였으나 형태적 특징으로 종 분류는 어 려운 상태이다. 따라서 본 연구는 말쥐치의 외부 형태와 내부 골격 및 계통유전학적 정보를 제공함으로 말쥐치와 유사종 (T. septentrionalis)의 분류학적 재검토를 진행하는 데 주요한 정보가 될 것이다.